INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY BIOMES COOLING
Land has been reclaimed on Singapore’s southern coastline to create three gardens that form the Bay project
I
f there were a prize for the least sustainable building project, then an air conditioned, giant greenhouse dome in Singapore would be a contender, you
would think. But think again. Two such huge ‘biomes’ that have been constructed as part of the city state’s Gardens by the Bay development, may have strong claims to being very eco-friendly. The Gardens by the Bay comprise three
public gardens being created on reclaimed land at the mouth of the river in the south of Singapore. The 52 hectare Bay South scheme includes landscaped gardens, a function room, concert arena, shops – and the two giant 20,000 sq m, scallop-shaped biomes that each has its own particular micro- climate. The biomes have been christened the ‘Flower Dome’ and ‘Cloud Forest’. The design team for the £400m Bay
South project faced an unusual and exacting sustainability challenge in such a hot and humid climate: to air condition the biomes so that their projected carbon emissions
would be no worse than those of a modern Singapore offi ce in November. The Bay South domes, which opened to
the public on 29 June, are air conditioned by circulating about 10,000 litres of liquid desiccant, burning 17 lorry loads of forestry waste a day, and cooling thousands of square metres of pathways and pavements. Gardens in the tropics are noted more
for their luscious foliage than for their vibrant fl owers, so the Flower Dome has been designed to recreate the conditions of a Mediterranean spring climate. The Cloud Forest dome recreates the conditions of... well, what else but a cloud forest? Conditions within the Flower Dome have
to be maintained at 25C and 60% relative humidity (RH) during the day, and dropped to 16C and 80% RH at night. The Cloud Forest dome will be kept at a temperature of 25C, 80% or higher RH, during the day; dropped to 17C, 80% RH at night. The project team’s task was to recreate these cool environments beneath the domes’ glass
www.cibsejournal.com
August 2012 CIBSE Journal 21
All images courtesy of Atelier Ten
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